Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dean of Associate Studies,

I am writing this letter for permission to receive a credit standing in three of the courses that I took in the fall semester. During the fall semester I was facing a psychological challenge that impaired by ability to perform academically. During the beginning of the semester, before the first set of midterms I was at fault for putting my social life before my academic career. However, upon receiving my grades I knew I had to make a change in my lifestyle and I had to stop doing things that would further jeopardize my academics.

I had successfully reduced external factors that would distract me from achieving my goals, yet despite that there was one thing that was holding me back and that was myself. For a couple of years, since high school I would go into these phases in which no matter how hard I tried I would not be able to snap out of it, and during the fall semester I had gone into another one of these phases that I would say had to have been the worst that I¿¿d ever experienced.

I was trying to keep up with going to classes, my readings and any assignments that I had, but eventually negative emotions started getting in the way of my life. Usually when this happened before I would just try to make the best out of the situation and work hard however this time I started doing things differently. I started using alcohol as a coping mechanism for all the negative thoughts and feelings I had, I started missing class because I didn¿¿t think they were of any use as I had already fixated on the thought that I was a failure. As I received more failing grades the more discouraged I became. There was a week in the semester where I didn¿¿t leave my bedroom because I felt dejected. My mental state began affecting both my physical well being and my academic career and I felt like there was nothing I could do about it.

It was not until my family and friends had noticed this change and encouraged me to go seek help because this was not normal behaviour for me. Taking their suggestion which was near the end of the semester, closer to the final exam season I started seeing a counselor at student wellness services who has been a great help since I started seeing her. If I had started sessions with her earlier in the semester, I believe I would not have the need to be writing this letter as my grades wouldn¿¿t be where they currently are.


Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sincerely,


Jaya Buschemeyer